About 50 yards from the winding thoroughfare's intersection with Harold Street, a forgotten water tower sits quietly, except for some scattered late-night visits by defiant deliquents.

It was once part of the former Willowbrook State School campus and may date even farther back to the military base that occupied the terrain earlier, according to Seth Wollney of the Staten Island Museum.

Unfortunately, its isolated locale has left it open to vandals and brazen teens.

The chain link fence, which was topped with barbed wire to deter trespassers, is rusted and dilapidated.

The easy accessability of the base of the tower is evident by the extensive graffiti taggings that coat it, and the scattered remanants of late-night parties that litter the ground around it.

Even more disturbing, though, is the makeshift ladder, concocted by some foolhardy daredevils, that has been rigged to steel rungs that scale the side of the 150- to 200-foot cylinder.

Spray-painted letters and designs are noticeable the entire length of the column nearest the rungs and are in even heavier volume along its spire and narrow catwalk.

"All of the property on that side of the street from the intersection with Willowbrook Road down past New Springville Little League is owned by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York," said Staten Island Developmental Disability Service Office director Dr. David Booth.

Booth's organization operates on the grounds under a leasing agreement, along with the Little League, the New York State Institute of Basic Research, the College of Staten Island, and the Young Israel playground.

As of yesterday a Dormitory Authority spokesman could not identify exactly what group is responsible for maintaining the property in question. But, he did promise that his agency would rectify the fencing problem as soon as possible, now that the situation has been drawn to the Authority's attention.

Attorney and leading advocate for the disabled Hal Kennedy contributed to this report.